


Try Just One

by noblecrescent



Category: Pandora (TV 2019), Pandora CW
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Funny, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Original Character(s), Pandora cw - Freeform, friendships, possible story in the end, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-14 21:55:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21022856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblecrescent/pseuds/noblecrescent
Summary: **One-shot. Ralen is introduced to common, albeit strange from his perspective, human meals. Guess he still has a lot to learn about Earth; luckily he has friends ready for the task.





	Try Just One

Okay, so being completely new at a space training academy wasn't easy. Especially when it was in the middle of the year. Or when you had zero friends. Even more so when you were from the specific race that was once enemy to the very planet the academy was in.

That's why Ralen counted himself extremely lucky to have found such a group of humans who disregarded his background.

Here they were now, trying to convince him to try some plate of yellowy rectangles. He'd seen better things in the Black Hole, honestly. But he supposed that's what the school's lounge was for...to try new things.

But he got an odd smell from that plate.

"You going to eat those or just stare at them?" a dark-haired woman asked from where she sat, the couch next to Ralen's. Jax was a patient woman to some point, but those chili-cheese fries did smell pretty good.

Of course if anyone had little patience when it came to chili-cheese fries, it had to be the culprit of this smelly plate.

Atria Nine popped up behind the couch Ralen sat on, her short - and bright - purple hair swished to one side when she tilted her head. "Yeah, c'mon, Ralen! If you don't eat them, I will!"

"I do not understand," Ralen admitted. He leaned back against the couch and turned his head to see Atria's face right in front of him. She didn't quite get space boundaries yet. She wasn't from Earth either, which was probably one of the reasons why she and Ralen could get along well. "They don't appear to provide any nutritional benefit from my analysis of the ingredients."

Atria practically snorted in his face. Jax just smiled from her spot. It was quite amusing watching this pan out.

"It's not about the nutritional value!" Atria said, sounding offended more than anything.

"I just do not understand," Ralen reiterated. "It's gooey and it doesn't even look to have a healthy color."

"Oh c'mon!" Atria exclaimed, almost throwing her hands into the air. "Why are you making this so complicated!?"

Ralen seemed at a loss for words.

"What are you doing to him?" a third woman had come up to the trio, and immediately eyed the chili-cheese fries on the table. She let her schoolbag's strap slip from her shoulder to her wrist. "Oh! I want some!"

"Ah!" Atria quickly moved around the couch, stopping the woman with a pointed finger. "I want Ralen to try them first. He's never had them!"

"And that surprises you?" the woman raised an eyebrow at Atria. She chucked her school bag to the nearest couch, which happened to almost hit Jax's face. "He's literally from another planet. So sorry, by the way-" she told Ralen, "-because that means you've never experienced the delight that _are_ chili-cheese fries."

"I was trying to explain to Atria that this plate contains no nutritional value at all," Ralen kept gesturing at the plate helplessly since no one seemed to take his information seriously.

Emmery just smiled at him. It was amusing whenever he over-analyzed things that didn't need to be analyzed in the first place. "You're overthinking iiit," she almost sing-sang to him. She marched to the couch and plopped down next to him. She pushed the loose strands of her silvery hair behind her ears and rubbed her hands together. "You see, Ralen, whenever you are gifted with free food...you never turn it down. It's literally a human law."

"It's not," Jax said flatly. Ralen tended to take things very seriously so she wanted to avoid further confusion.

"Shush!" Emmery waved a hand at her and continued on. "So then what you do is…" she leaned towards the table and gently picked up one french fry that dripped in chili sauce, "Pick one up and drop it into your mouth like this!" She did exactly as she said and happily munched on the fry. She could almost moan of how good the fry was.

"Do I have to make those faces?" Ralen pointed at Emmery but looked to Jax for the answer.

The woman smiled and shook her head. "Not unless you feel like being dramatic."

"I do not."

Emmery and Atria shot him looks he plainly missed.

"C'mon!" Atria went again and jumped to sit on Ralen's other side. "Just try one! You won't regret it!"

"And if you do, we'll happily take the plate off your hands."

"Why would I pick up the plate if the table is really close to me?" the Zatarian cluelessly asked.

Emmery giggled then caught herself a minute later. She ignored the Atria's and Jax's knowing smirks and looked at the plate instead. "Just take a fry, okay?"

Ralen found himself terribly outnumbered. He had no choice but to pick one fry up. He let it drop into his mouth and every time he chewed he found himself the center of attention.

"So, what do you think?" Emmery asked him once he swallowed.

"They do have a pleasing taste," he admitted which was all Atria needed to go 'ha!'.

"There you go, now you can try some more," Emmery picked up the plate herself and took another fry.

"But don't eat too much," warned Jax. "They're good until you have every more than you should. The chili is very potent. You have to know just the right amount before it becomes too much mess with your entire stomach up."

"Why would…?" Ralen looked between Emmery and Atria in a rather concerned way. "Why would you do that to yourselves!?"

"Because it's good, duh," Emmery waved a fry in front of his face. "The best things are often the forbidden ones."

"But if you get hurt, why would you even try it? The consequences cannot be worth it."

"But they can be," Emmery reassured him. Atria suddenly snatched the plate from her, muttering a 'go order more' afterwards. Emmery rolled her eyes but it _was_ a fair thing to do since Atria had ordered the plate herself. "C'mon," she told Ralen as she got up. "Let's go order more. Maybe extra sauce?"

"Maybe no extra sauce," Jax suggested but Emmery waved her off and pulled Ralen with her towards the counter.

"Since you've tried chili-cheese fries, why don't we go for something else?" Emmery thought when they'd come up to the counter.

"Like what?" Ralen watched her scrunched her face, the thing she usually did whenever she thought. She had a way of crinkling one side of her nose for some reason. He wondered if it was a human thing but he had yet to see Atria, Jax or Pilar do the same.

"Oh!" Emmery suddenly grabbed onto his arm. "How about we try some nachos with extra cheese, sour cream, a couple beans and of course beef!"

"That...sounds like something Jax warned us not to have a lot of."

"Oh c'mon, Ralen. Take a risk," Emmery winked at him then looked around for a nearby employee to help them out. "You never know what could happen." She didn't wait for his answer and instead hollered for an employee quit ignoring them and take their order.

Ralen smiled while she went on. She was a small woman but her voice could reach up to the stars in no time. She had a way of making her presence known, whether it was intentional or not. She was an exceptional human - was that a good compliment? He always had a hard time deciding if his words were good or not. Emmery never really seemed to mind, though, whenever his words were a bit out of place. She usually just laughed with an 'oh Ralen!' and then would correct him.

Though she'd still thank him for the odd compliment anyways.

She was just very kind.

And very pretty.

"Ah, here we go," Emmery beamed at the large plate placed on the counter between her and Ralen. It looked like it could serve five people, but if Emmery had her way...she'd eat it all on her own.

"I suppose I shouldn't even attempt to remind this also bears no nutritional value," Ralen looked at the cheesy-covered plate. He wondered which plate was worse: the nachos or the chili-cheese fries.

Emmery had already dug by that point. "Huh?" she held a half-eaten nacho chip between her fingers.

Ralen smiled. "Never mind."

"Here," Emmery dropped the last piece of chip into her mouth then slid the plate in front of him. "Try one. Guarantee you this will be the best thing you'll have."

Ralen gazed down at the plate and, admittedly, felt this one had a more like-able scent than the chili-cheese fries. Perhaps it was the lack of chili sauce on this plate...

"C'moooon!" Emmery bumped her arm with his, urging him to try it already.

With a small shrug of his shoulders, Ralen reached for a chip on the edge of the plate. Cheese dripped as he picked it up, but there were visible chunks of beef on it that did have a good smell too. He dropped it into his mouth and as he chewed, Emmery watched him like a hawk for his reaction.

"So, how is it?"

Ralen tilted his head as he finished chewing the last of it. "Interesting taste. The sour cream was a curious addition although the cold of it contradicts nicely against the warm cheese..."

"That is a lot of an analysis for a simple nacho chip," Emmery said seriously before laughing. "But so you! I guess we'll have to order another late, then."

"Another one? I don't think I'll finish this one," Ralen pointed to the plate in front of him but Emmery slid it back to her.

"This one's mine," she clarified, also dead serious. "You can have your own. I don't share nachos."

Now it was Ralen's turn to smile.

**Author's Note:**

> This could possibly turn into an actual fic so please leave your thoughts!!


End file.
